Success is 'from within' says former Australian water polo player

By Fred Hooper (Multiplatform reporter)

Former Australian water polo player and sports psychologist Jemma Dessauvagie has first-hand experience with the bitter taste of defeat but she's also dealt with leaving a huge part of her life behind; sport.

"You've obviously got to find your next passion in life and what makes you happy.

"I was lucky enough that when I retired it was by choice so I wasn't dropped per se and I wasn't kicked out and I didn't have a career ending injury," explains Ms Dessauvagie.

Often when athletes leave a sport prematurely or through forces out of their control Ms Dessauvagie says "those things make it harder to move on because you feel like you have unfinished business."

How much is too much? When children or young people are trying to achieve the best results in sport Ms Dessauvagie says it's important to remind them why they're doing it.

"What I try to teach them is that as much as winning is great, it's not always everything because you've got to find a meaningful and significant experience in everything that you do.

"The nature of the beast in sport is someone's always going to lose and when we put too much focus on winning at all cost, the one's that lose are constantly disappointing people and that gets quite dangerous," she says.

According to the former water polo player the true champions are the ones that are "self driven and they will find that drive in time."

"If you're constantly relying on other people to get you there, then you'll never actually reach your full potential and you'll never make it as a champion," she says.

It all comes back to ensuring young people understand the true meaning of sport and why they are participating.

"If you have a child that is that hard on themselves that they cannot find joy or significance or meaningfulness in what they're doing yet they claim to love it.

"I think that's quite a dangerous scenario. You learn your best lessons from losses or things that you've done wrong and I think that needs to be encouraged a lot more with our younger athletes," she says.